Sunday, January 19, 2014

CAST RECORDINGS OF 2013 - A PERSONAL LOOK

It’s time to take
a quick tour through the cast recordings, plus a few soundtracks, that were
release during 2013, more exactly the ones I listened. At the end you’ll find
my Top Five list.

BOMBSHELL – This
television soundtrack of SMASH’s musical-within-a-musical is one of the best
new original scores written for a musical. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
deliver several terrific songs, strongly sung by Megan Hilty and Katharine
McPhee. “Let Me Be You Star” is a true winner and so is “Don’t Forget Me”.
Personally I also love “At Your Feet” by Bernadette Peters. Without doubt one
of the best new scores of 2013.

CHARLIE AND THE
CHOCOLATE FACTORY – This new score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman reminded
me of better scores like OLIVER, MARY POPPINS, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG or
DOCTOR DOLITTLE. None of the songs are catchy but, thanks to different kind of
songs, no one can say the score is monotonous, but it’s easily forgettable and
sometimes boring.

CINDERELLA –
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA arrived on Broadway and the result is a
pleasant cast recording with a cast to die for and great orchestrations. To
play this recording is like being taken to an impossible world of melody, fun
and magic. It’s not R & H best work, but they really knew how to write for
the stage.

DEAREST ENEMY –
Although I’m a huge fan of Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, this isn’t their
best work. Anyway it’s nice to finally have a decent and complete recording of
this musical, with a little bit too operatic good cast and rich orchestrations.
Any score with the likes of “Here in My Arms”, “Bye and Bye”, “Here’s a Kiss”
and “Where the Hudson River Flows” has my approval.

DOGFIGHT – I know,
this one isn’t for me. But at least I gave it a try. It has good singing by
Lindsay Mendez and Derek Klena, but, with exception of “Come Back”, I couldn’t
care less for the songs. I’m too much in love with the traditional Broadway
sound to enjoy this kind of stuff.

FAR FROM HEAVEN –
For this musical adaptation of the movie of the same time title, Michael Korie
& Scott Frankel come up with a melodious but uninteresting score. With a
few exceptions, it’s not’s very easy to distinguish the songs ones from the
others; not even the strong cast is able to turn it into something lively. It’s
like this story never needed songs to be alive.

GIANT – I think
this Michael John LaChiusa’s score is sometimes melodious, but the songs sound
almost all the same, making it boring. At the same time it has an epic quality
that made me wish that Rodgers & Hammerstein where still alive. The entire
cast is in great shape and I enjoyed “Topsy Turvy”, “My Texas” and “When to
Bluff”.

HOW THE GRINCH
STOLE CHRISTMAS – Already a Christmas favorite of mine, this score by Mel
Marvin & Timothy Mason it’s highly enjoyable, with tuneful songs and some
funny lyrics. The cast sings with gusto and “One of a Kind” is one of the best
new songs I heard in 2013.

KINKY BOOTS –
Everyone knows I’m old fashioned, specially when it comes to music, so it comes
as no surprise that this pop score by Cyndi Lauper wouldn’t be my cup of tea.
There’s nothing wrong with the cast, everyone sounds great, but I have a hard
time relating to this kind of music. I can understand the excitement of songs
like “Sex is in the Heel” or “Everybody Say Yeah”, but they don’t do much to
me. I believe this may work better live on stage. Of the entire score I enjoyed
the ballad “Hold Me in Your Heart” and “What a Woman Wants”. I wish the score
was written by someone like Cy Coleman.

A LITTLE NIGHT
MUSIC – The first time I heard this fabulous score was when I saw this movie,
many years ago. By that time I didn’t knew who Stephen Sondheim was but I fell
in love with the score and so my love affair with Sondheim began. Of course
this isn’t the best rendition of the score and Liz Taylor’s voice is far from
perfect, but even so is a beautiful haunting score.

LIZZIE - This “musical” by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Tim Maner and Alan
Stevens Hewitt isn’t for someone who, like me, doesn’t enjoy rock music. The
cast delivers strong voices and I guess many people will enjoy it, but not me.

MARRY ME A LITTLE
– A new recording of this intimate revue with songs by Stephen Sondheim,
beautifully sung by Lauren Molina and Jason Tam. A nice way to discover
lesser-known songs by Sondheim, sung with talent, humor and love with a simple
piano for support.

MEET JOHN DOE –
Interesting score by Andrew Gerle and Eddie Sugarman, with more than a couple
of good songs and a winning cast. Anyway, I couldn’t stop thinking how it would
sound if Kander & Ebb had written the score.

MOTOWN – This one
is exactly what it pretends to be, a jukebox of Motown hits sung by a joyful
cast. It depends on your tastes in music, if you like this kind of stuff you’re
in for a treat. Otherwise this is a nostalgic trip to the past, with more than
a couple of contagious numbers.

THE MYSTERY OF
EDWIN DROOD – I always enjoyed the Original Broadway Cast recording of this
Rupert Holmes musical and I still preferred it to this new one. That doesn’t
mean this new cast isn’t fine; not only it’s a great cast, but we also get a
more complete score. There’s plenty to enjoy here and everyone sounds like they
were having a great time.

ONE TOUCH OF
VENUS – After more than a decade, this studio cast recording was finally
released and it’s a true treasure for musical fans. Kurt Weill & Ogden Nash
score never sounded so good and, until now, was never released in its entirety;
it even includes cut songs like the beautiful “Love is a Mist”. The cast is
simply terrific and I’m never tired of listening to “Speak Low”.

PASSION – Here is
a rarity, a score where although the songs sound much alike, never becomes
monotonous. Stephen Sondheim wrote another beautiful and haunting score, here
sung by a terrific trio of actors: Judy Kuhn, Ryan Silverman and Rebecca Luker.
This is one of those scores that grows on you; don’t give up after the first
listening! Anyway, I confess I prefer the original Broadway cast with Donna
Murphy.

PIPPIN – Patina
Miller leads the terrific cast of this new and exciting recording of Stephen
Schwartz musical. I confess I was never a huge fan of this score, but it never
sounded so good as it sounds here. Sometimes contagious, sometimes magic, it’s
an enjoyable recording.

SCANDALOUS –
Carolee Carmello gives her all to this kind of pop/godpsell musical. The big
problem is the fact that the songs by David Pomeranz, David Friedman &
Kathy Lee Gifford sound all the same with just a few exceptions: the bad
girls’s “A Girls Gotta Do What’s a Girl’s Gotta Do”, the more musical
“Hollywood Aimee” and the romantic “It’s Just You”. There isn’t any great song
here and Carmello deserved better; I just wish “I Have a Fire” was a better
song.

THE SOUND OF
MUSIC – Television Soundtrack of the new production of Rodgers &
Hammerstein musical, with Carrie Underwood in the leading role. Her voice seems
sometimes a little strange for the material, but she sings well and has a
terrific supporting cast helping her. This isn’t the best rendition of the
score (my favorite one is the movie soundtrack starring Julie Andrews), but
it’s a nice introduction for the new generations.

STEPHEN WARD –
I’m not a huge fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber, but in the past he wrote more than a
few great songs. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any of these in this new score,
but no one can blame him for trying something new with this musical, largely
influenced by the 60s sound.